Life Below Water

An innovative startup that offers solutions often emerges from small challenges encountered in everyday life. This moment was also experienced by two students from Telkom University a few years ago. Growing up on the coast, the two students felt frustrated by the difficulty of obtaining fresh fish while studying at Tel-U. However, this frustration led them to innovate and create a startup that could make it easier for them to obtain fresh fish. After seven years of navigating the market, Aruna, an integrated fisheries commerce and supply chain aggregator, now collaborates with 40,000 fishermen across 177 Aruna Hubs in 31 provinces in Indonesia. Aruna has exported various Indonesian seafood commodities, such as crabs, shrimp, and fish, to eight countries. Recently, Aruna expanded its business by exporting 15 tons of blue swimming crabs to mainland China. The crabs were packaged under the BOON brand. In the processing, Aruna involved local fishermen and coastal women it has trained to manage the products sustainably. Quality control was ensured through production processes that prioritize Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) standards, so the product quality remains high when consumed.

This achievement reflects Aruna's commitment to accelerating the distribution of Aruna Fishermen's products to a wider market while demonstrating the increased competitiveness of Indonesian products that can penetrate the global market. It also proves Aruna's efforts in promoting the downstream integration of fishermen. Aruna ensures that the sustainability of the entire fishery production process is maintained, from being caught by fishermen using environmentally friendly gear to being processed by coastal women, creating jobs for the local community.

Aruna has been sailing for seven years now and remains committed to expanding its vision further, aiming to make Indonesia the world's maritime economic center by 2045. They aim to realize the ocean's potential as a better source of life for everyone. This

commitment is embodied in their efforts to create a sustainable business oriented toward healthy profit and sustainable growth, the theme of Aruna's seventh anniversary. After a long journey along the coastline and across the vast Indonesian seas, Aruna Indonesia continues to grow, bringing benefits and receiving many awards. This is enough to establish Aruna Indonesia as a true startup with a noble purpose—not only profitable but also beneficial, improving welfare, and demonstrating a deep commitment to the seas of the archipelago.

Students from Telkom University (Tel-U) on the PENTANA Team have created an innovative project, the Smart Boat, as a solution for improving the safety of fishermen, presented at the 2023 Student Creativity Week (PKM). This innovation has undergone testing at the 2023 PKM Karsa Cipta event at Jayanti Beach, Cianjur, West Java, from Saturday (9/30) to Sunday (10/1). The Smart Boat was developed as a preventive measure to minimize the risk of accidents for fishermen while at sea using technology. The Smart Boat is an Internet of Things (IoT)-based intelligent boat that uses Long Range Radio (LoRa) waves as a transmission medium to monitor fishermen's journeys. The PENTANA Team was inspired to create this innovation due to the high number of accidents among traditional fishermen in Indonesia. The trial results show that the Smart Boat can effectively monitor the positions of fishermen while at sea. With the Smart Boat, it is hoped that fishermen's safety will be significantly enhanced, providing a preventive step to reduce the risk of accidents at sea.

From the publication perspective, in 2023, we have released a total of 7 research publications in accredited journals and conferences related to SDG 14.